


When Downton Abbey isn't on...

by writeswithfeatherquills



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: CYA tags, Diego is Desert Bluffs Carlos, Kevin is the best uncle, Minor mentions of alcoholism, Strex Origin Story, Strex is NOT evil, betcha thought you'd never read that tag, expect it still is kinda, i'll shut up now, trigger warnings for cancer? is that a thing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 02:07:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4286655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeswithfeatherquills/pseuds/writeswithfeatherquills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dying girl has a birthday party, the Universe is a big softie, and StrexCorp Synernists, Inc. is just another bad thing born of good intentions.</p><p>(Or, a StrexCorp origin story that is much better then my crappy summary makes it sound. )</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Downton Abbey isn't on...

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I have no idea where this came from, but it happened. Also, apologies for made up hospital writing, I don’t know much about how those work or what goes on there. This is unbeta’d, so any mistakes are mine, and it's also my first fic on here, so tell me what you think!  
> (I also apologize for my treatment of Kevin.)

The Universe, when it is bored, and gets tired of waiting for new episodes of Downton Abbey, will sometimes reflect on what a horrible thing it is. It isn’t self-loathing, although the object of loathing is indeed itself, but more like a reflection on something that isn’t as good as many think it ought to be. The Universe occasionally wishes that it was a better place, but the amount of control it has is…actually rather difficult to explain. It supposes that nebulous would be the best word to describe it. Because nebulas are large and impressive, like the Universe’s power, but ultimately unable to do anything if a passing ship decides to fly through it. A nebula cannot affect things that want to disturb it, and neither can the Universe. It can cover vast areas of space and time, look big and imposing, and sometimes swirl and send out energy in such a way as to screw with radios and TV sets. But, if you look close, it’s just a bunch of floating dust, and if you wanted to swirl your hand through the fine, glowing particles, you could. Just like if an accountant, sleep-deprived from a late shift and not looking where she was going, wanted to cross the street to Starbucks despite the speeding van attempting to occupy the same space, she could.  
  
The Universe was, indeed, nebulous.  
  
It could only watch as people were brought into and taken out of the world. It could only look on as forests were cut and streams were diverted and cities grew larger and one tiny planet died slowly as others were born and began to grow. Honestly, the only reason the Universe knew as much about the planet Earth as it did was because it really, really liked Downton Abbey. And it was easier to just watch the rest of the planet go about its life as it waited for the next episode then to turn its attention to other, possibly more interesting planets or realms. And so, it was while idly gazing upon the surface of Earth in-between episodes that the Universe noticed Allie.  
  
Allie wasn’t special, really. She was six years old, had blue eyes, liked cooking and flowers, and still believed in fairies. There was not a single thing about her that was entirely unique, in the universe’s metaphorical eyes. Her kindness was abundant among children, her penchant for learning was the norm, and even her stage four acute lymphocytic leukemia was not uncommon. But the Universe watched her anyways. It watched her watch old re-runs of Doctor Who in the hospital, and laugh weakly at the protagonist’s jokes. It didn’t watch her uncle outside her room, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes momentarily before plastering on a smile and opening the door, quietly asking how his little smiling princess is.  
  
“Uncle Kevin!” the girl squealed, using most of her energy in the words and merely moving her head towards him, hoping he would get the message. He did, and leaned down to hug her, careful not to squeeze too hard as his niece tended to bruise very easily now.  
  
“You still watching Doctor Who, sweetie?” he asked, and she grinned at him.  
  
“Yeah, the Doctor is almost as silly as you!” she said, her raspy voice cheerful.  
  
“Really?” the man replied with heavy, joking skepticism. The girl giggled, and the man’s broken heart eased some, and broke more at the same time.  
  
“No, not really. Where’s mommy?” she asked. The man, Kevin, sighed.  
“Your mommy had to work another late shift, honey.” He said, hating how often he had to spit out that line to the poor girl. Often her mother, who was a nurse at the hospital, got shoved into longer shifts, and had to ask Kevin to go see Allie for her. She apologized each time for putting him out, but Kevin loved Allie like his own, and enjoyed spending time with her.  
  
“She told me to give you this.” He continued, handing her a package of cookies, and the girls face lit up.  
  
“Really?! But these are only for special occasions!” she gasped. Kevin’s smile become only a touch more forced as he nodded.  
  
“Well, your birthday is tomorrow, so it is a special occasion.” As he spoke, the girl picked at the wrapper, her tired fingers lacking the strength to peel away the cellophane. Kevin gently reached forwards and opened the package for her, setting it back in her lap.  
  
“Thank you.” She smiled, nibbling on a cookie. The man pulled a chair closer to the hospital bed, and sat down in it. “Hey Uncle Kev?” the girl asked.  
  
“Yeah, sweetie?” the man replied.  
  
“Can you tell me a story?” The man’s smile lightened to something more genuine and amused, as he replied, “A story? Well, sure, what kind of story would you like to hear?” despite the fact that he knew full well what the answer would be.  
  
“I wanna hear about Desert Bluffs!” the girl said, eyes bright, as her toes wiggled under the sheets. Kevin tapped his chin in mock-thought.  
  
“Desert Bluffs? Hmmmm, I’m not sure I recall a place like that…”  
  
“Uncle Keeevvvinnnnnn!” the girl squealed. “You grew up there! You can’t have forgotten it!”  
  
“Oh, yeah!” the man exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Desert Bluffs! I remember now, how silly of me.” The girl giggled and then fell silent as the man shifted in the chair, getting more comfortable as he prepared to spin his tale.  
  
“Hmmm…alright. Once upon a time, there was a little town called Desert Bluffs. It was always warm there, and the sun was always bright and shining…”  
  
And so the Universe listened as the brown-haired man talked about the cheery little town in the middle of the desert, with its happy townsfolk, and simple, solvable problems, and fun carnivals and petting zoos. The Universe knew that the man didn’t actually remember all too much about his hometown, but his words painted such detailed pictures that it didn’t really matter anyways. The Universe watched as the little girl lost herself in the town, could see her walking down the streets in her head, maybe dragging a balloon behind her, or possibly holding some cotton candy.  
  
The Universe knew the girl had never been to a carnival. It didn’t know that the girl’s parents planned to bring her to one, a year ago, but that they had ended up going to the hospital instead. But Kevin did. So he talked about a carnival with a Ferris wheel, games with stuffed bears as prizes, clowns, and roller coasters.  
  
When the story was done, the girl smiled, and then yawned, the now-empty cookie packet falling to the floor. Kevin stooped down to pick it up, throwing it in the trash bin.  
  
“You tired, Allie?” he asked.  
  
“Nooooo….” The girl said softly, head falling lower and lower. The man smiled softly and moved to tuck the blanket closer to her chin.  
  
“It’s okay, my smiling princess. Go to sleep.”  
  
“Okay.” The girl yawned again. “’Night, Uncle Kevin.” She said groggily, and then was asleep. Once he was sure that the girl was well on her way to whatever dream world she imagined, he finally allowed the forced smile to fall from his features. He sighed, and sat back down in the chair, reaching to take her hand before pausing, then putting his hand back in his lap. He didn’t want to wake her up. She was always so tired now. He put his head in his hands, staring blankly at the linoleum floor.  
  
Just then a knock was heard at the door. Kevin stood up, and went to open it, seeing Allie’s doctor standing there.  
  
“Doctor Ramirez.” He said, by way of greeting.  
  
“Mr. Free, we’ve known each other for a year now, you can call me Diego.” The man at the door said, looking at Kevin over thin black glasses.  
  
“Yes, well, you still call me Mr. Free, so.” Kevin replied tiredly.  
  
“Well, I’m at work technically, and you are not. Anyways, I’m just here to check up on her.” He gestured to the room, and the sickly girl within, with his clipboard. Kevin nodded.  
  
“She just fell asleep.”  
  
“I see. I’ll come back around later then.” Kevin nodded, and the dark-skinned doctor turned and left with a nod.  
  
The Universe turned away then, eagerly watching as actors filed onto a set to begin filming their show.

…o.O.o…

The next day, the Universe looked back in on Allie, unsure of why, just in time to see the doctor from the previous night open the door.  
  
“Doctor Diego!” the girl said, smiling at him. She did smile quite a lot for someone in her position.  
  
“Hi, Allie. How are you today?” the doctor asked, smiling back at her.  
  
“I’m okay. How are you?” she asked, and the doctor nodded, checking the various equipment and monitors hooked up to the little girl’s bed.  
  
“I’m okay, thanks for asking.” He said, writing down some things on his clipboard. “Hey, I heard someone’s having a birthday today!” The girl smiled even wider.  
  
“Yeah! I’m turning seven!”  
  
“Are you really? Gosh, you’re getting so old!” he exclaimed, and the girl nodded seriously.  
  
“Yeah, mommy told me to stop growing up, though. Do you know how I can do that?” she asked, her smile replaced by a look of concern. The doctor chuckled quietly.  
  
“No, not really. But don’t worry about it, okay?” he asked as he took her blood pressure.  
  
“Okay. Hey, are you coming to my birthday party?” she asked.  
  
“Maybe I’ll stop by.” He said, knowing that if she was having a party, it would have to be in the hospital room.  
  
“Yay!” the girl said, then continued jabbering to the doctor as he worked, about anything and everything. The doctor smiled and responded, thinking that if it weren’t for her pale skin and bald head, she could have been just any normal, healthy kid. He frowned, bitterly cursing the fact that there was nothing he could do that would help her.  
  
When he was done, he wished her a happy birthday, and then went on to see his other patients, her bright smile reminding him of why he did what he did.  
  
The Universe continued to watch Allie after the doctor left. She sat in her hospital bed, flicking idly through channels, and the Universe was shocked when she flipped right past Downton Abbey, but chalked it up to her young age. Eventually, she turned off the television and sighed, picking up a book from the bag that was kept next to her bed. She flipped through it, but the Universe wasn’t sure if she was actually reading it. So it did something it hadn’t done in a while. It folded itself up small and focused its energy on the electric static of the girl’s brain, reading and following the electrical impulses that shot across it, hearing her thoughts.  
  
_I do not like them, Sam I am._  
_I do not like green…_  
_Why is everyone so sad?_  
_Uncle Kevin smiles, and Doctor Diego smiles, and so do mommy and daddy, but none of them are happy. I wish they could be happy. Maybe the party will cheer them up!_  
_Would you eat them_  
_In a house?_  
_Would you eat them_  
_With a mouse?_  
_Uncle Kevin once said, that mice don’t live very long._  
_I don’t think I will either. I’m a good faker, mommy and daddy didn’t even notice I wasn’t asleep when they were talking with Doctor Diego about it!_  
  
“We can’t really tell, Mr. and Mrs. Free. The way it’s progressing, she could have a month, or a year…”  
  
“Or ten years…?” the mother asked hopefully. The doctor gave her a sympathetic look, and shook his head.  
  
“Not ten years. Five, maybe, if she’s very, very lucky.”  
  
_And then mommy started crying._  
  
_…I don’t wanna die. Who will listen to the stories about Desert Bluffs with Uncle Kevin? He only tells the stories to me…_  
_Maybe when I die I can visit Desert Bluffs! That would be so cool!_  
_…In a house._  
_I will not eat them_  
_With a mouse._  
  
Later, Allie fell asleep, the book still open on her lap, dreaming of birthday parties and sunny desert towns, and green eggs and ham.

  
…o.O.o…

  
The Universe, confused by Allie’s thoughts, decided to play detective, and took a break while the little girl slept to learn about her family. It was at this point that the universe took a moment to really appreciate how easy being omnipresent made it to gather information. It only took it an hour to discover the hidden stash of empty liquor bottles her father kept under the bed, the anti-depressants in her mother’s medicine cabinet. It read back through texts between her father and her uncle, who had no children of his own and loved his niece dearly, and thought her father should be more worried about paying her hospital bills than forgetting about them in the bottom of a bottle.  
  
It checked in on this uncle at his work, where he hosted a radio show, observed the pictures of him with Allie and of his pets, though the images were blurry due to the creature’s restlessness, so it was hard to tell exactly what kind of animal it was. It listened to the show for a few minutes, then turned to her mother, worriedly glancing at the clock as she tried to plan her daughter’s birthday party, waiting for when she would get off work, and hoping that she would be able to pull everything together.  
  
And then the Universe watched as she hurriedly drove away from the hospital after she clocked out, grabbed balloons and paper hats from the party store, picked up the cake, and drove it all back to the hospital. (Allie was staying at the same place her mother worked.)  
  
It metaphorically grinned as it watched Allie nearly bounce in her bed when her mother arrived, and watched with bright eyes as she set up the decorations, the two talking to each other with joy on Allie’s part, and forced cheer on her mother’s.  
  
Her uncle Kevin arrived later, carrying a gift bag and wearing a grin the Universe thought might look a little more genuine than usual today. He greeted the ailing girl, and they all talked about whatever the birthday girl wanted, both adults paling slightly when Allie started talking about what she was going to do after she got out of the hospital.  
  
“First, I’m gonna go to the carnival! And I’m gonna go on the Ferris wheel, and the merry-go-round, and eat lots of cotton candy! And then, I’m gonna ride my bike all over the place! And then, I’m gonna go fairy-hunting again! And then,” here, she gasped, and turned to her uncle, eyes bright with excitement.  
  
“Maybe Uncle Kevin and I can go to Desert Bluffs!!” Kevin smiled at her, determined not to let his tears spill over.  
  
“Yeah, sweetie. That’d be great.” He said quietly, and listened as his niece talked animatedly about the outside world she rarely saw with white knuckles gripping the plastic chair.  
  
Half an hour later, the small hospital room was crammed full of relatives, friends, and some hospital staff. Allie spent the better part of ten minutes introducing “Doctor Diego!” to everyone, and then her mother brought out the cake. Someone flipped the lights out, and the seven small candles burned brightly in the crowded room.  
  
They began to sing, and Allie wasn't focused enough on the small but beautiful pink confection, despite the candlelight dancing in her eyes, to miss the tears in the eyes of those around her.  
  
She closed her eyes, thinking hard about what wish she wanted to make. But in the end, the sad faces around her decided for her.  
  
_I wish…I wish that everyone could be happy. All the time!_  
  
And then she took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Well. That’s what was supposed to happen. In reality, she took a heavily shuddering inhale, and let out a small sigh not much larger than her usual weak breath. Her uncle Kevin smiled and subtly blew them out for her, winking at her like it was all a great game.  
  
_Yeah, if everyone could be happy. Doctor Diego could give them their medicine, and Uncle Kevin could tell them stories, and everyone could live in Desert Bluffs and nobody would need to be sad ever again._  
  
The rest of the party passed in a blur—cake was eaten, presents were opened, and then everybody left, and the girl went to sleep.  
  
And then, only a week after her last birthday party, Allison Sarah Free died.  
  
The Universe watched as the unsteady lives of those around her fell apart, lost without their cheerful anchor. Her father drank himself into oblivion and arrest, her mother took up the bottle her father was forced to put down, and Kevin Free sat alone in his radio studio, working tirelessly without food or sleep, finally breaking down in the middle of his show and passing out on the soundboard, tears falling onto the panels like rain, his audience turning their radios to a different station out of respect.  
  
And for once in its existence, the Universe took pity. It figured that maybe, just this once, it would be a less horrible place. Maybe Allie had the right idea, and everyone just needed to be happy.  
  
It worked hard on her last wish, using whatever power it could bring to physical fruition. Since it wasn’t reasonable for everyone to live in the small town of Desert Bluffs, it created a company that carried the Desert Bluffs spirit, and became such a part of everyday life that it was almost as good as everyone living there.  
  
It made Doctor Diego head of medicine at the new StrexCorp Synernists Inc., and made sure the development of medicine that made everybody feel better was successful, and that everybody got it. It made Kevin the radio host of Desert Bluffs, moving him back to his hometown and surrounding him with happy things. But Kevin still cried, despite the happiness around him, and despite the medicine. And so the Universe decided that he needed to forget why he was sad, in order to move on and be happy. It would be what Allie wanted, right?  
  
So the universe made his smile more...permanent, and blacked out his eyes so he would only see happy things. And then, deep in the clutches of a fast-fading nightmare, surrounded by the dim light of a waning moon, Kevin R. Free finally forgot that he was sad. He forgot he had a niece. He forgot that he had ever lived anywhere else but Desert Bluffs.  
  
He forgot that he had been unhappy.  
  
And sure, there were glitches, the whole thing went against everything that humans were after all, but it was worth it. Wherever Allie was, he was sure she was smiling. Their smiling princess. No, princesses didn’t have enough power to do all this, to cause this beautiful new dystopia. She deserved a grander title.  
  
A Smiling God, maybe.


End file.
